Let's Grow Stuff

Greetings from the garden, and welcome back to Let's Grow Stuff.

My name is Ben, and today we're at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin to explore low-input lawn alternatives.

Let's dig in!

Well, conventional lawns take a lot of inputs from regular mowing, and watering, and fertilizing, which are time-consuming, and also not really great for the environment.

The good news is there are a lot of wonderful turf alternatives, and we're going to look at three of them today.

Now, I use all three of these in my home landscape based on the setting, and we're going to start by looking at the fescue lawn.

Fescue can take the same wear and tear of conventional lawns once established.

So, if you have dogs or kids that need open spaces to play, fescue is your best choice.

Fescue performs best in full sun to part shade and should only be watered in the event of significant summer drought or at least two weeks with no rain.

Fescue mixes should be planted by seed in early spring or autumn, never in the heat of summer.

It will take about a year to fully establish before you need to begin mowing.

And once established, you'll only need to mow it two to four times per season beginning in early to mid-May.

Next up, sedges.

Sedges, or Carex, are the choice for shady locations, and there are so many different varieties to choose from to give you a different look and feel, depending on your site.

The other good news: they're native, which means they're well adapted to our local climate.

Sedges also make great green mulch, and it can fill in spaces under trees and shrubs to help keep weeds down in these areas, too.

Sedges can take a minor amount of wear and tear, with perhaps an older dog or occasional footsteps, but it's not a great choice for heavy recreational use.

Sedges only require watering for a few months after planting to help them get established, and then, only in the event of a significant drought of three to four weeks with no rain.

Sedges are also cool-season plants, which means they'll green up almost instantly as winter fades away, and some are even evergreen.

Sedges will bloom in early spring with flowers ranging from bright gold to a rich sandy brown.

Mowing sedges is optional, and I personally just leave them be.

Many selections top out at six to eight inches tall and have a gentle, graceful, elegant look throughout the growing season.

Finally, we're looking at a prairie dropseed lawn.

Now, dropseed is a beautiful and majestic native bunch grass, which means it'll form tight clumps over time, and it won't spread to form a carpet.

Dropseed aren't a great choice for recreational purposes but are a fabulous choice for those outer edges of a larger lawn that just don't make sense to maintain conventionally.

Prairie dropseed is exceptional for full sun and well-drained sight.

Once established, it's highly drought tolerant because it grows a vast network of deep, fibrous roots, perfect for soaking up deep water sources.

Prairie dropseed is a warm-season grass and the only warm-season grass on our list, which means it won't green up until mid to late May and is never mowed.

The best part of dropseed is late summer into autumn when it flowers.

Each plant produces a haze of delicate and highly aromatic flowers about 24 to 30 inches tall.

These seed heads catch the autumn dew and frost in a magical way.

Well, there you have it.

Three low-input lawn alternatives that will save you time, money, and be better for the environment.

Now, don't forget there is so much more to learn online at PBS Wisconsin dot org slash Let's Grow Stuff.

There we have more videos, tips, tricks, and a blog to help you grow a better garden.

So, until next time, happy gardening!

- Funding for Let's Grow Stuff is provided by Ganshert Nursery & Landscapes, the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.